The title Sing Joyfully was actually suggested to me by one of its commissioners from the Saffron Walden Choral Society, as a working title for a piece of music that would eventually explore the pleasure to be derived from singing. The title immediately brought to mind the anthem by William Byrd, with which I then chose to begin this new piece, divesting the work of its religious nature by omitting parts of the text. I decided, inspired by the nature of the commission, to collect some texts that...